Let Er’ Rip!

If you want the top of the line then you’ve come to the right place, at CHIP we get an influx of some of the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos and hardware. We do not lie when we say top of line, because we had the opportunity to play around with AMD’s latest and most powerful processor the Threadripper 1950X.

A little about the 1950X before we get into the review, the chip has 16 cores and 32 threads with a base clock of 3.4GHz, boost clock of 4.0GHz and an XFR of 4.2GHz. It also has an L3 cache of 32MB and support for DDR4-2666 quad-channels. In addition, AMD has slapped on a TDP rating of 180W for the 1950X. That’s really high, so you’ll definitely need at least a 700W PSU minimum in our opinion. Finally, it has a total of 64 PCI-e lanes translating to greater bandwidth for PCI-e hardware.

Threadripper has a funky way of installation, where AMD provides you with a proprietary screwdriver that’ll be used for the setup. You have to open the tray up and slide in the processor and then screw it in, which keeps the processor absolutely secure. A socket mount for coolers is included, making it easy to install coolers. All you have to do is get the corresponding mount for your cooler and just screw it in.

Performance wise, the processor doesn’t disappoint, achieving an average of 2,989cb on Cinebench and a PCMark 10 score of 4,200. The 1950X definitely shows its capability when it comes to multi-core processing. For gaming, it might not support some of the older games due to its core count, so AMD fitted in a new Gaming Mode in an updated Ryzen Master Utility software. The Gaming Mode basically lets Windows use only 8 cores instead of the full 16 in case of incompatibility. With the Threadripper 1950X, you’ll have no problem playing the latest games and using it for content creation, giving you the best of both worlds.

CHIP CONCLUDE: If you’re looking for a processor that does it all, then the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X is definitely the top choice.